Quantum physics is like life. Not nasty, brutish and short, but rather unpredictable, occasionally interesting, and often depressing. At least it has been depressing for many scientists, like Einstein, who thought science ought to predict what happens, not just give you the odds for what might happen, like meteorologists forecasting rain.

At least with quantum physics, unlike weather forecasts, the odds are always accurate. But that doesn’t satisfy everybody wh...